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Traders finally got a chance to conduct business Monday for whatseemed like the first day in September with no tropical stormsimmediately threatening, disrupting or starting to move on afterhaving disrupted Gulf of Mexico production. “It was nice to have alittle window with nothing [storm-related] imminent,” one soucesaid. Cash prices reacted to what has been generally bearishfundamentals all along with declines of between a nickel and eitherside of a dime.

As Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline heads into construction,it is starting to look more like a domestic Canadian supply systemand lose its original flavor as almost exclusively an exportproject. The evolution of MNP as the delivery route for the SableOffshore Energy Project has set off speculation in Canada that itwill change significantly by its scheduled in-service date of Nov.1, 1999.

Like an immovable object the downtrend weighed on the futuresmarket again on Thursday, completely erasing advances made earlierin the week. That left the September contract down 4.2 cents to$1.831, but more importantly the prompt month continues to plodtoward substantive support in the $1.78-81 area, causing tradersto wonder if that level will hold or be merely a speed bump.

Oklahoma Natural Gas (ONG) is digesting the Oklahoma CorporationCommission’s (OCC) recently released upstream unbundling order andfinding at least a few things it does not like. “Generally, basedon what we’ve seen in the order thus far, there is concern on thepart of management that the order as it exists now could curtailthe ability of our affiliate ONEOK Gas Transportation Co. (OGT) tocompete effectively in the marketplace,” said spokesman Don Sherry.”Our management’s considering where we go from here. Presumably theorder was described as an interim order. Presumably, there may beadditional options available to us at the Oklahoma CorporationCommission. Presumably there are legal options as well, but none ofthat has been decided at this moment.”

The Williams Companies was hit hard in the second quarter likemany other energy trading companies, posting a $58 million drop innet income from 2Q97. But a large portion of its trouble stemmedfrom a FERC ruling that challenged the rate-making methodology insome markets served by the company’s petroleum products pipeline.Williams took a $15.5 million charge to cover customer refundsordered by FERC, but said it plans to appeal the July 15 ruling.Williams also still is suffering from merger-related charges. Ittook a $6.1 million MAPCO merger-related charge and recordedanother $3.4 million in costs as general corporate expenses relatedto the merger.

If you thought a new pooling system on El Paso Natural Gas wouldbe approved in time for summer vacation, it looks like you may haveto sweat it out for another season. After months of hair pullingscrutiny and debate, FERC has decided to reject El Paso’s March 16filing for scheduling gas pooling transactions on its system andconvene yet another technical conference on the complex matter.

Like a grizzly bear accidentally stepping on a porcupine, VikingVoyageur seems to have tread on a Wisconsin landowner whose husbandhappens to be a Noble Prize winning economist with a dislike ofpipeline infrastructure. In testimony filed at FERC on behalf ofhis wife Katherine D. Miller, Merton H. Miller, McCormickDistinguished Service Professor of Finance, Emeritus, of theGraduate School of Business, University of Chicago, warned theCommission if its goal in approving new pipelines is to benefitconsumers then it should toss the Voyageur project.